The 2011 National Christmas Tree is a 26-foot Colorado blue spruce which was planted in March on the Ellipse, a park that lies between the White House and the National Mall. Strong winds in February toppled the previous tree, which stood in the park since 1978, so this is the first Christmas for this tree. It is surrounded by a "train garden" that goes entirely around the tree and with separate train gardens within the space.
This first National Christmas Tree led to the tradition we celebrate today and along the way the tree’s location and the lighting ceremony have changed.
From 1924 to 1933 the tree, renamed the National Community Christmas Tree, was located in Sherman Park, which is south of the Main Treasury Building and southeast of the White House grounds. During these years, simple lighting ceremonies and community singing were accompanied by the U.S. Marine Band. The National Park Service’s responsibilities for the park lands and the tree ceremony began in 1933.
From 1934 to 1938 the National Christmas Tree was located in Lafayette Park on the north side of the White House. In 1939 and 1940, the tree was relocated to a spot just south of the center of the Ellipse. Caroling, choirs and military bands continued to characterize the lighting program entertainment. The years 1941 to 1953 found the National Christmas Tree on the South Lawn of the White House. In 1941, on December 24, only weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill led the lighting ceremony and addressed the crowd.
In 1954 the tree moved back to the Ellipse where it has been located ever since. Also in 1954, the tree lighting became known as the Christmas Pageant of Peace, a celebration conceived by the Washington Board of Trade and the Washington Citizen’s Committee. The tree lighting ceremony moved from its traditional Christmas Eve date to earlier in December and was then followed by three weeks of presentations by community organizations and groups on the stage at the Ellipse.
While the location of the tree in President’s Park and its lighting ceremony program have changed and evolved over the years, the purpose remains the same: our local and national communities coming together to celebrate the season and to share the message of peace.
Watch video of the lighting of the 2011 Tree at www.thenationaltree.org/tree-lighting/
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This year's 400-pound showpiece has working lights, four fully furnished rooms, a replica of the Kitchen Garden, First Dog Bo, and a Christmas forest...
Were he alive today, White House architect James Hoban might be stunned to discover that his most famous building is annually re-created in gingerbread for Christmas at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The tradition became a yearly part of holiday celebrations when Roland Mesnier, who ruled the pastry kitchen for more than a quarter of a century, made houses each Christmas during the Carter Administration. Mesnier's houses became more and more elaborate over the ensuing Presidencies, but his successor, Executive Pastry Chef Bill Yosses, has taken the building project to a whole new level. All five of Yosses' White House Gingerbread Houses have been covered in white chocolate, and the 2011 house is his best and most detailed effort yet.
Every element is edible, with the exception of the working electric lighting that's inside and outside. There are four interior rooms, a model of First Lady Michelle Obama's Kitchen Garden and beehive, First Dog Bo, and a forest of Christmas trees. Displayed on a marble-topped console table in the State Dining Room throughout the holiday season, the house is a showstopper that delights children and adults.
Yosses (l) first came to the White House at the invitation of First Lady Laura Bush for the 2006 holiday season. But he built his first Gingerbread House for Christmas 2007; Mesnier came out of retirement specifically to do the 2006 house, Yosses told Obama Foodorama. "What a relief!" Yosses added; the idea of building such a grand project during his debut months was apparently a bit daunting, even for someone who was already an acclaimed pastry chef, hailed for work that was described as "unfailingly elegant, restrained and imaginative."
Each of Yosses' three houses for President Obama and Mrs. Obama have all been the same view of the South Portico because "it got great feedback," Yosses said.
The pastry master references copies of Hoban's original building sketches as he works. The white chocolate architectural details, such as columns, banisters, and rosettes, are poured in special molds, and are historically accurate. Yosses began his culinary career while living in France, and was mentored by Pierre Herme, the nation's premier pastry chef. It was then that he learned the arts of chocolate decor and sugar blowing. (Above: A view of the left side of the house)
Building the White House Gingerbread House takes months, and Assistant Pastry Chef Susie Morrison acts as "general contractor." The gingerbread was baked in late September, in order to allow it to go stale and become hard. It's more than an inch thick, and so hard a band saw is used to cut the walls and roof, Yosses said. The recipe is the same used for the White House Gingerbread Cookies, but on a far larger scale.
The project is a group effort for White House staff that extends beyond the pastry kitchen. The house is assembled in the China Room, a ground-floor room where presidential china is displayed year-round in lit cabinets (the room is currently being used for the holiday tour, and features a Christmas dinner table set with the Clinton State China).www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/ginger-bread-wh...
Tags: Holiday Reception Christmas in Washington National Christmas Tree Capitol Christmas Tree White House Bo Baltimore College High School Choir Blue Room Red Room Green Room State Dining Room East Room East Colonnade Kennedy Garden Washington Memorial Washington DC Ebbitt's Grill Gingerbread House Pennsylvania Avenue 15th and Alexander Hamilton East Entrance Veteran Heros White House Christmas Tree
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Tags: Holiday Reception Christmas in Washington National Christmas Tree Capitol Christmas Tree White House Bo Baltimore College High School Choir Blue Room Red Room Green Room State Dining Room East Room East Colonnade Kennedy Garden Washington Memorial Washington DC Ebbitt's Grill Gingerbread House Pennsylvania Avenue 15th and Alexander Hamilton East Entrance Veteran Heros White House Christmas Tree
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